Saddleworth Parish Council met representatives from Vernon Building Society ahead of its facility opening in November. Its chair, Barbara Beeley, has promised to keep fighting for better access to banking facilities.

The Stockport-based building society plans to share premises on Uppermill's High Street with Pearsons Solicitors. Face-to-face banking services will be available from 10am until 4pm, Tuesday to Thursday.

"We will continue to put pressure on the Government to encourage more banking services into our area," she said. "But this is a real step forward, with face to face financial planning becoming available in a way that simply wasn't the case before."

Vernon chief executive Darren Ditchfield and business development manager Ian Wilson met the Parish Council to detail the services they offer, with financial services for individuals and businesses.

Darren Ditchfield said: "We're delighted to be bringing face-to-face financial services back to the villages of Saddleworth, which have been without a high street branch for nearly a decade. Opening in Uppermill will allow us to offer more convenient access to the personal service they've missed."

The area's last branch, NatWest in Uppermill, closed in 2016. Planning permission was recently granted to convert the building into apartments.

Saddleworth Parish Council has also approached banks directly in a bid to return services to the area. Barbara Beeley said seeing a building society expanding into the area confirmed the council's belief that there is a market in Saddleworth which banks are currently ignoring, to their detriment. "Saddleworth is a great place for businesses to invest in, and this is just one example," she added.